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Reader Challenges

QUILTING ARTS MAGAZINE READER CHALLENGES

Tell Us a Story

Introducing our latest Reader Challenge

Our lives are fraught with tiny moments, mundane, everyday occurrences, and momentous occasions. Tales get shared with the world (often now through social media), laughed over with friends, and swept under the rug. Tell us a story that has meaning to you, captures some small snapshot of your life.

Tell us a story of meeting up with a friend, after a long time apart. Of watching the sunset out your window while drying the dinner dishes. Of meeting a significant person in your life for the first time. Of learning of a catastrophe in the world.

What story do you want to tell? Our challenge is for you to create an art quilt based on the theme “Tell Us a Story” in whatever way that translates to you. Share your quilt with us and we’ll publish a sampling of reader’s artwork in the June/July 2017 issue or at quiltingdaily.com.

Here’s how to enter

Create an art quilt based on the theme “Tell Us a Story.” The quilt must be 9″ (width) x 12″ (height) including the binding (portrait orientation). Embellishments or three-dimensional elements must not protrude more than 1/2″ from the quilt.

The quilt may be made with any materials, but it must be quilted (by hand, machine, or both), consist of three layers, and be either bound, faced, or closed along the edges.

Label your quilt on the reverse with your name, email address, and title of the quilt. On the back of the quilt, please mark the top. A hanging sleeve is not required.

Your entry must be free of any text or images protected by copyright, unless you have the expressed written permission from the person or institution that holds the copyright and you provide that written permission with your submission. (It’s a good idea to steer clear of commercial imagery.)

To be considered for the challenge, attach two low-resolution jpeg images (each less than 1MB) of your completed entry to your email—one of the entire quilt, including all of the edges/binding, and one of a detail of the quilt—via email by January 16, 2017 to challenges@fwcommunity.com, with the words “Tell Us a Story” in the subject line. Please include your name, email address, phone number, title of the quilt, and a brief statement about your piece in the email. You may submit more than one quilt, but each entry must be in an individual email.

Note: Please do not “zip” your files and be sure to send separately attached jpegs (not embedded in the text).

Note: By submitting your Reader Challenge entry, you are authorizing F+W to publish your project in upcoming publications and promotional materials, on our websites and in other e-media, as well as to possibly display it at shows. F+W will not be held responsible for loss or damage due to circumstances beyond our control.

On January 19, 2017, we will post the finalists on the blog at quiltingdaily.com. This is the only notification that will be made.

If accepted as a finalist

Your artwork must be in our offices no later than February 3, 2017, along with a shipping and handling fee of $10 (U.S.), $20 (Canada), or $30 (all other international). This fee, which must be paid in U.S. dollars, covers the shipping costs, packing materials, and handling for the return of your entry. Only cash, checks, or money orders can be accepted; no credit cards or electronic payments. Checks or money orders should be made payable to F+W.

Securely pack your quilt to resist damage during shipping (we suggest putting the quilt in a sealed plastic bag inside the main packaging). Include your full name and mailing address (clearly written, please) inside the package.

The entire piece and all of its packaging must weigh less than 3 lbs. and fit inside a standard shipping/mailing box or padded envelope for return shipment.

Finalists, mail entries to:

We reserve the right to keep and possibly display your “Tell Us a Story” quilt until the week of June 15, 2017.

If you have questions, contact Katie at katie.chicarello@fwcommunity.com.

We look forward to seeing your work!

Speak to Me

Introducing our ‘Language of Flowers’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. This challenge is now closed.

Flowers mimic our own human lives … a seed is planted, it grows and blossoms, it becomes magnificent, and it, alas, withers and dies. Flowers also seem to have moods, preferences, and, certainly, language. What do they say to you?

Of course, there are also meanings ascribed to flowers—a language, if you will—of every sentiment. Different types or colors of roses, for example, are said to evoke love, respect, thankfulness, innocence, grace, and much more.

How do flowers speak to you and what sentiment do they express? Our challenge is for you to create an art quilt based on “The Language of Flowers” in whatever way that translates to you. Share your quilt with us and we’ll publish a sampling of reader’s artwork in the April/May 2017 issue or at quiltingdaily.com.

Here’s how to enter

Create an art quilt based on the theme “The Language of Flowers.” The entire quilt must be in landscape orientation and measure 8″ (height) x 10″ (width) including the binding. Embellishments or three-dimensional elements must not protrude more than 1/2″ from the quilt.

The quilt may be made with any materials, but it must be quilted (by hand, machine, or both), consist of three layers, and be either bound, faced, or closed along the edges.

Label your quilt on the reverse with your name, email address, and title of the quilt. On the back of the quilt, please mark the top. A hanging sleeve is not required.

Your entry must be free of any text or images protected by copyright, unless you have the expressed written permission from the person or institution that holds the copyright and you provide that written permission with your submission. (It’s a good idea to steer clear of commercial imagery.)

To be considered for the challenge, attach two low-resolution jpeg images (each less than 1MB) of your completed entry to your email—one of the entire quilt, including all of the edges/binding, and one of a detail of the quilt—via email by November 14, 2016 to challenges@fwcommunity.com, with the words “Flower Challenge” in the subject line. Please include your name, email address, phone number, title of the quilt, and a brief statement about your piece in the email. You may submit more than one quilt, but each entry must be in an individual email.Note: Please do not “zip” your files and be sure to send separately attached jpegs (not embedded in the text).

On November 16, 2016, we will post the finalists on the blog at quiltingdaily.com. This is the only notification that will be made.

Note: By submitting your Reader Challenge entry, you are authorizing F+W to publish your project in upcoming publications and promotional materials, on our websites and in other e-media, as well as to possibly display it at shows. F+W will not be held responsible for loss or damage due to circumstances beyond our control

If accepted as a finalist

Your artwork must be in our offices no later than December 16, 2016, along with a shipping and handling fee of $10 (U.S.), $20 (Canada), or $30 (all other international). This fee, which must be paid in U.S. dollars, covers the shipping costs, packing materials, and handling for the return of your entry. Only cash, checks, or money orders can be accepted; no credit cards or electronic payments. Checks or money orders should be made payable to F+W.

Securely pack your quilt to resist damage during shipping (we suggest putting the quilt in a sealed plastic bag inside the main packaging). Include your full name and mailing address (clearly written, please) inside the package.

The entire piece and all of its packaging must weigh less than 3 lbs. and fit inside a standard shipping/mailing box or padded envelope for return shipment.

Finalists, mail entries to:

We reserve the right to keep and possibly display your “Language of Flowers” quilt until the week of June 26, 2017.

If you have questions, contact Katie at katie.shaiken@fwcommunity.com.

We look forward to seeing your work!

How Do I Love Thee?

Announcing our ‘Who Do You Love?’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. This challenge is now closed.

Sonnets have been written, songs crafted, artwork of all media created—all about the love that fills our hearts and souls and makes us human. As quilters, we are inspired by so many things—nature, current events, technology, music—but what is more inspiring than the special people in our lives?

For this challenge, we want you to think of a special someone in your life, someone who makes a difference and for whom your heart beats faster. Show us that person in a quilt. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner—honor someone!

If accepted as a finalist

Your artwork must be in our offices no later than October 14, 2016, along with a shipping and handling fee of $10 (U.S.), $20 (Canada), or $30 (all other international). This fee, which must be paid in U.S. dollars, covers the shipping costs, packing materials, and handling for the return of your entry. Only cash, checks, or money orders can be accepted; no credit cards or electronic payments. Checks or money orders should be made payable to F+W.

Securely pack your quilt to resist damage during shipping (we suggest putting the quilt in a sealed plastic bag inside the main packaging). Include your full name and mailing address (clearly written, please) inside the package.

The entire piece and all of its packaging must weigh less than 3 lbs. and fit inside a standard shipping/mailing box or padded envelope for return shipment.

Finalists, mail entries to:

We reserve the right to keep and possibly display your “Love” quilt until the week of March 27, 2017.

If you have questions, contact Katie at katie.chicarello@fwcommunity.com.

We look forward to seeing your work!

Introducing our Fabulous Fabric Swap Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. This challenge is now closed.

Warm weather is perfect for getting outside for some creative mischief. Getting messy with paints, experimenting with cyanotypes and sun prints, or creating hand-dyed fabric in outdoor buckets. Of course, many artists work inside, too, but there’s something about the longer days, chirping birds, and sunshine that stimulate creativity. New growth, new work.

For years, Quilting Arts has featured articles on surface design and dyeing fabric and we frequently hear from readers about their experiments with the techniques they have learned. How about you? Starting with white fabric, we challenge you to show us what you can do and share your work in a Reader Challenge fabric swap. Wow us!

This challenge will be a fun opportunity for all involved to share their art with other readers in two ways: A selection of the fabrics will be published in the December 2016/January 2017 issue of Quilting Arts Magazine or online. All of the fabric will then be distributed, and each Reader Challenge participant—whether published or not—will receive a fat quarter created by another artist.

Submitted fat quarters will be mailed to participants via United States Postal Service the week of November 14.

Note: By submitting your Reader Challenge entry, you are authorizing F+W to publish your project in upcoming publications and promotional materials, on our websites and in other e-media, as well as to possibly display it at shows. F+W will not be held responsible for loss or damage due to circumstances beyond our control.

Introducing our ‘Barnyard or Fair’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. This challenge is now closed.

We look forward to summer with excitement —the leisurely days, the sparkling sun, vacations, and summer memories of the past. This issue’s challenge is an extension of those thoughts. Remember trips to county fairs—the competitions, the food, the rides and games? And how about visits to Grandpa’s farm—the family picnics, the hay, the animals? We remember. Do you?

Our challenge is for you to create an art quilt based on the theme “Barnyard or Fair.” Here’s the chance to show us your trip down memory lane in a quilt. Share your quilt with us and we’ll publish a sampling of readers’ artwork in the October/November issue or online.

Introducing our ‘Bucket List’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. This challenge is now closed.

What’s on your “Bucket List”? We all have them in some form or another; lists of things we’d like to do or see or create before we pass on to that great quilt store in the sky. Perhaps you dream of seeing the world’s wonders, accomplishing a physical challenge, creating a masterpiece, or just doing something personal, special, important to you.

Introducing our ‘What’s Your Super Power?’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. This challenge is now closed.

We are quilters. We sew faster than a speeding bullet. Our design skills are more powerful than a locomotive. And, we are able to leap obstacles in our sewing rooms in a single bound. We are super quilters!

Our latest Reader Challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to create an art quilt based on the theme “What’s Your Super Power?” What would you wish for? Or what do you have already, waiting to shine through?

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Introducing our ‘Going Places’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. This challenge is now closed.

Spring is a time of opportunity. Gardens are waking up from winter naps, loved ones are graduating and transitioning into new stages of their lives, new life springs up from nests and ponds, and there is new hope of warmer days to come. Everyone and everything seems to be wiping off the cobwebs, going somewhere, transforming.

How are you reshaping things? What do you see in nature that exemplifies transition? What fresh opportunities do you see? How are you moving on?

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Introducing our ‘Face Time’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest, this challenge is now closed.

“The face is a picture of the mind with the eyes as its interpreter.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Let’s face it, we love portrait quilts. Humans are drawn to faces and, according to research, even newborn infants prefer faces to other objects. We look for information and other clues in the expressions of others. Artists of all mediums have used the face as the subject or inspiration of their work-be they realistic, abstract, or somewhere in between.

Whatever face you choose to honor, our challenge is for you to create a “Face Time” portrait art quilt. Portraits tell a story. What is yours?

Introducing our ‘Artful Adventure’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest, this challenge is now closed

December 2015 marks the 15th year of Quilting Arts Magazine. From the very first issue, QA has encouraged quilt artists to push the boundaries of creativity, learn new techniques, and embellish with abandon. From dyeing to discharge, from beading to binding, and from free motion to felting, we’ve covered it. This has been quite an “artful adventure”!

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Introducing our ‘Autumn Leaves’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. This challenge is now closed.

In New England, we are blessed by nature’s ever-changing wonder in four distinct and lovely seasons. Fall is a particularly beautiful one, as the trees’ leaves change color and nature prepares for colder days to come. And our friends in the southern hemisphere welcome spring, another season when nature shows its miracles.
Whatever colors surround you this fall, our challenge is for you to create an art quilt inspired by leaves. As an added twist, we encourage you to use at least one technique you have learned from any issue of Quilting Arts.

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Introducing our ‘Birds of a Feather’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. This challenge is now closed.

Birds are a significant presence in our world. Who hasn’t been amused by scurrying plovers or stopped in their tracks by the intricate melody of a wood thrush? From literature to paintings to quilts, birds are also ever-present images in artwork. Our challenge is for you to create an art quilt showing how birds inspire you.

Blossoms, Buds, and Blooms

Thank you for your interest. This challenge is now closed.

“When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment.” Georgia O’Keeffe

It’s a harbinger of spring we long for in the dead of winter-that first crocus blossom or flower in the landscape. Flowers are cheerful, comforting, fragrant, and just plain lovely! They are an equal opportunity love, enjoyed by gardeners and non-gardeners alike.Our challenge is for you to create an art quilt representing your favorite flower or flowers.

Introducing our ‘Create a Breast Pocket’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. This challenge is now closed.

Introducing our ‘Favorite Things’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. This challenge is now closed.

Maybe we say it too glibly; “I love that song” or “That’s my favorite outfit.” But we all do have favorite things that inspire us in many ways. It might be a favorite possession, a pleasant memory, or a loved one. Or it could be a treasured memento, a trip of a lifetime, or a new opportunity. Our challenge to you is to create an art quilt representing your favorite thing or things.

Introducing our ‘Changing Seasons’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed.

It’s always exciting when the first crocus leaves poke through the late winter snow. And there is something magical about watching the first snowflakes swirl around in the yard. Seasons keep changing! And just as fall turns to winter and winter to spring, our lives have seasons as well–times when we experience growth and renewal and times when we may lie fallow while our roots are pushing deeper. Our challenge to you is to create an art quilt reflecting on the changing seasons in your life.

Introducing our ‘Opposites Attract’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed.

Ever notice that it’s often easier talking to the person next to you at the circular tables used for banquets than it is to strike up a conversation with the person directly across? Well, sometimes we make our color choices the same way-we pick the neighbors of our main color (they’re called analogous in color wheel speak) instead of dashing across the wheel to pick up a less familiar hue. This challenge will give you the opportunity to lean across the table, so to speak, and create an art quilt using colors from the opposite sides of the color wheel.

Introducing our ‘Art in The Park’ Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed.

For many of us less hardy souls, winter often means more time is spent indoors. Yet as the light lingers longer each day, it becomes easier to remember spending time outdoors in our favorite parks–whether national parks with extraordinary vistas, city parks which encourage community, or private gardens we’ve created in our own backyards to foster contemplation and reflection–and don’t forget ballparks and theme parks! Our challenge to you is to create an art quilt with the theme of enjoying a park and share it with Quilting Arts.

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